Dating Ideas
I have talked with several people on the different ways to meet people to date. There are several online services. As I get information about them, I will update this story.
- Profile Posting - Generic post your picture and answer some questions and they match you up with people that checked the same boxes you did. This is a very favorable for the women type mechanism since the men do most of the emailing to women.
- Social Groups - Several sites listed above also have 'mixers' and other social outings. This is a great way to just mingle with people. They usually have some activity to help people move around the room
- Speed Dating - Haven't done this yet, but the concept is simple, you goto an event where they give you 5-10 minutes with about 6 'possible dates'. You both have a private list of six people that you then mark level of interest. If you have mutual (private) interest then and only then does the event coordinator provide contact information.
- Dating Schools - Only found one class on this, and its basically a do's and don't of dating. Does it hurt to be reminded of this?
- Dating Service - Old school dating services from the 80's. Go in with a photo, record a video tape about yourself. Etc..
www.match.com - Profile Posting
Owned by Microsoft, has a fairly fast site. Several of my friends at work are on this, and have had good luck with meeting people. The key is to email people and read their profile first. Come on its not that difficult.
sandiego.matchlive.com - Social Group
This is the partner site to Match.com, where they have in person events. Attended only one mixer, and yet to do their Speeddating. Was interesting attending the event, and one friend is dating someone from the event. 🙂
Update 11/17/2003: These events are still fun to attend. Still haven't tried their speed dating yet.
www.datesmartsingles.com - Dating Classes
Was recommended to this by John, who took the class and really felt it helped him identify better ways to approach people to make a first impression and get that important first date. They offer a FREE class every Saturday which is not a dating service, its techniques only. Several classes were cancelled lately, and I haven't been able to attend.
www.matchmaker.com - Profile Posting
Mixed reviews on this from friends.
www.friendster.com - Profile Posting
Found out about friendster through some Burning Man friends. It works on the interesting concept of letting you know how the person you find interesting is connected to you. So if one of your friends knows this person, you can ask them to introduce you so that you are less of a stranger. For the most part it seems like a cross between a Yahoo Group and Match.com.
Its in beta at the writing of this, and can be pretty slow some days.
www.emode.com
Got this link from Marie, and I think its mostly a SanFran thing. I will be logging in and taking a look. This appears to be another "Post your self" and let people decide if your hot or not. 🙂 update 11/17/2003: Paul and I are both on this now, and I find that its proactive emailing you of matches and numerous tests very helpful in finding others. It also has a very nice email anonimizer, that allows you to use your home email address with privacy... it all gets routed through their servers :).
www.eharmony.com - ???
Honestly don't remember how I found this site. Need to review later.
www.8minutedating.com - SpeedDating
Very few events in San Diego. update 02/25/2004: I finally went to one of these events. It was a great way to meet 20 women and find out if we atleast had initial chemistry. I found the event to be alot of fun, but it starts at 6:30, and you don't get done until around 9:30pm. So expect to commit your whole evening to this event. There are breaks where you can mingle around the bar and meet people. Definately recommend this to anyone dating.
www.itsjustlunch.com - Dating Service
I haven't really figured out what this is, I think its a paid service. I found it in the airplane magazine when flying back from Chicago. :-/ They want to justify their high monthly fee by stating you will save money from not having to pay for BAD dates? 12/9/2003 - Update Just talked to my friend Rachel that was looking into this. Its $1,500 for a year membership with 12 dates done at lunch. GASP!!!! Apparently if you can't make time to date, it must mean you have money to throw around. Well I guess it is a way to only find people that have a Job! I'll pass.
Great Expectations - Dating Service
Not heard good things about this place. Its a site that really is just a front end for the old fashion come in and make a profile dating service. From what I have heard they are very high pressure, and want a considerable amount of money. Their pitch is that its worth it, since you don't waste time.
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